


Sometimes Love Isn't Enough

by ilovejackieandhyde (orphan_account)



Category: That '70s Show
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 09:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27848166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ilovejackieandhyde
Summary: okay so this is kinda just a analysis mainly from Jackie's pov with all their breakups, but it kinda has a storyline. there isn't like any dialogue, so if thats something you must have, then this is not for you. but i really hope you guys read this and that you enjoy this because the ending is kinda interesting in my opinion.
Relationships: Jackie Burkhart/Steven Hyde
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Sometimes Love Isn't Enough

Jackie and Hyde were the cliche on again off again couple. They seemed to have good reasons for breaking up, each time they did, but the more Jackie found herself going back to him, the worse she felt. It was like a vicious cycle, fall in love, fight, break up, live through misery, make up, and fall in love again. It was never ending. First time they broke up Jackie felt like the worst person in the world. He had given her everything, and she just ruined it all, with the slip of her words. The first time they broke up, it was all new. She hoped for reconciliation, but he wouldn’t even speak to her. So, when they finally did get back together, she cherished him amazingly. She treated him like the ideal girlfriend. She wasn’t demanding, she was easy going, she offered a circle more, she talked less about her cheerleading. That should have been her first hint. He was taking pieces of her, and neither of them knew it. 

Jackie and Hyde’s relationship seems to be like the classic toxic couple that somehow make it work. When he had cheated on her, everything was so clustered in a way. She couldn’t take a step back and see the whole picture, see that it was just a misunderstanding. Instead, all she saw was that the love of her life cheated on her. When she broke up with him, she began hating everything and everyone. She spent days in her room crying. On the third day, she decided that she was better than him and that he didn’t deserve her tears. It hurt, but she forced herself to be angry and to resent him. She had taken everything he ever gave to her and took it out to the Pinciotti’s backyard and set it on fire. She wanted nothing to do with him. She was done. 

A couple days later, Jackie had decided to go to the basement. To prove that she didn’t need to date anyone to hang out there. That was probably her other flaw. Jackie hated being alone, so she seeked comfort, sometimes in the wrong people. She moves too fast, and he moves slowly. He also had never been in a relationship, so she was dealing with a novice boyfriend. He was unknowingly manipulative. When he told her not to hang out with Kelso, she excused it. She actually blamed herself. She blamed herself for dating Kelso in the first place, she blamed herself for Kelso wanting to get back together with her, she blamed herself because she was the one who told her ex’s girlfriend to get off of him, because he was hers, while her current boyfriend stood idly by. In Jackie’s eyes, it was all her fault. Why should she blame him? It only made sense that he was jealous. She did specifically tell him that she was still in love with Kelso. So, at the end of the day, it was all her fault. 

So, when Jackie walked into the basement only to see Hyde, Fez, and Donna she felt relieved. Relieved that she didn’t catch him alone. God, that would have been terribly awkward. But of course, Steven was the first one to notice her presence. He stood up and walked over to her, requesting to talk. But Jackie was done talking. She didn’t need to hear his point of view, and she definitely didn’t need him grovelling for her. 

Jackie wanted to make him feel as bad as she did. She wanted to hurt him more, so she decided to create an illusion that she was contemplating getting back together with either Steven or Michael. In reality, she was contemplating being single or getting back with Steven. She knew he was toxic for her, so she eventually decided that there was no way she was going to get back together with him, she just wanted to have some fun before she told them that neither one of them had a chance. 

When she told them, she felt so powerful. Like she could do anything. She loved seeing them ache in agony over their failed relationships with her. But it all came tumbling down when she saw how happy he was. He was over her, moving on, and she hated it. She wanted him to be miserable like she was. How could he get over her so quickly when she herself is still madly in love with him. 

After spending the summer thinking, she decided she wanted to get back together with Steven. She decided that they could start off completely fresh, leave all their relationship baggage behind and just be happy. She just found out that Kelso was no longer pining over her, so this could easily work. Except, he didn’t want her. He was back to one night stands with random girls while hating her. She hated him for it. She felt like he thought their relationship meant literally nothing. Like that whole year together was just for fun. Like he didn’t care about her. When it hit her. Now that she was completely single, she could see it all more clearly. He never cared about her. They only hooked up through boredom, and he probably only stayed with her because Jackie was fun and obviously hot. The only time he did something nice was to get out of trouble. He never spontaneously did romantic things. He probably only told her he loved her to get in her pants. He never loved her. If he loved her, he wouldn’t have cheated on her. He was so terrible for her, yet she loved him. 

When Jackie and Hyde finally got back together, things were good again. He was loyal and she was herself. She became less superficial but she still maintained her preppy personality. He became an amazing boyfriend as well. When they were alone and it was just the two of them, it was always the best. He was always so sweet with her. And he was unusually playful. He told her he loved her, but only in private. Everything was only in private. Which was okay, for now. 

The third time Jackie and Hyde broke up, she felt so hopeless. The inevitable was happening and Jackie felt trapped. She wanted everything to slow down, she wanted to be happy and not think about the future with him. But that’s what Jackie wanted. All Jackie wanted was to be married, and all Hyde wanted was the opposite of that. She had no right to force him and manipulate him into doing something he didn’t want to do. So, no matter how much it killed her, she had to break up with him. He couldn’t promise any sort of future with her. He told her that’s exactly what would happen. When they had first started dating, he told her that she and him would probably have no future. And as Jackie and Hyde’s relationship continued to progress, the more those words were repeated in her head. She didn’t want it to happen. It was all too fast. They were together for almost two years at this point and he doesn’t want to be with her forever. It’s better to end it now, than to have to do it five years into the future, hating her life, and even worse, hating him. 

As the days went on, Jackie couldn’t help but feel a great mass of regret. She ruined the best relationship she had ever been in because she was scared of the future. She wasn’t living in the future, for God’s sake, she was still in high school. Worrying about the future should be for boring couples like Eric and Donna, not a hot couple like Jackie and Hyde were. She realized she had most fun with him when they didn’t talk about the future because everything was in the moment. And it’s not like he didn’t want to be with her forever. He just didn’t know she wanted to. He’s told her before, several times when they were dating that he didn’t want to be the reason for her hating her life. That he didn’t want her to be 33, in debt, three kids in, and no way out of a crappy marriage all because of him. He didn’t want her to fall out of love with him, and only if she understood what he meant, she would have never done this. Now she was single, desperately trying to make him jealous, embarrassing herself at a random Packers game, when she could be having the time of her life with Steven. Donna came up to her and started talking to her. She had said something about how Hyde sent her, and that terrified Jackie even more. He couldn’t know that she was a mess. Especially if Hyde was happy now. She desperately needed to get over Hyde and soon. Everything was falling apart, and she needed to fix it. She had no control over anything except for her life. If she lost control of that, she wouldn’t know what to do with herself. 

Jackie contemplated letting Hyde drive her home. She knew that he knew that she knew that he saw her crying behind the pillar. He was being really sweet and it took everything for Jackie to comply and get in the car with him. She had to be strong and get over Steven. She needed to find a new distraction to get over him. And definitely not a new boyfriend, that didn’t work so well last time, so that’d be a bad idea. 

Her new plan for finding a distraction was failing. Everything she did, she only thought of Steven. She tried art, she tried writing, she tried basically everything. The only thing that worked was shopping, but every time she went she was alone. It was almost valentines day, the mall was projecting love. God, Jackie was going to be alone for Valentine's day for the first time since she was dating Michael. God this was so sad. Everything basically told her that she was lonely or lonely and desperate for Steven. She needed to get back together with him or find something else to distract her. Jackie was about to resort to food as a comfort, and there was no way she was going to allow herself to become fat just because she’s lonely. 

When Jackie first went live on her show, she was terrified. She froze, everything she was thinking just left her mind except for one thing, she was alone. But now, Jackie was doing amazing on her show. She now found a good, healthy distraction that works, and could possibly get her a lot of money. She has never been so proud of herself, she did this, and she was single, it was the first time since her breakup with Steven that she felt genuinely okay. 

Jackie loved seeing how she and Hyde were becoming more friends. Clearly, dating hadn’t worked and Jackie was a little scared he would resort back to hating her. But instead, he was being really friendly. He had just come up to visit her at work, just for the hell of it. She loved the new place she was in with him. Which is why she was so confused when Donna came up to her with a mocking grin. She had a petrified look when Jackie told her how Steven came to congratulate her. Donna told her that he was coming to get back together with her and that him seeing her happy probably just pulled them further apart. Jackie’s face fell as an overwhelming feeling of despair filled her heart. So, he wasn’t being friendly, he just wanted something. So typical for a guy like him to just be a decent person for a reward. It was fine, she didn’t care, because she was happy now, and she knew that her happiness was torturing him, which was good, kinda. 

Jackie relished in the fact that she and Steven were now back together. She missed him so much, and after she got over her pride, she realized that he just loved her. Everything was good again, it couldn’t be destroyed. Everything was perfect. 

Jackie was so excited when she got the call that her first instinct was to tell Steven. The second she thought that, realization hit. If she got the job in Chicago, then she would have to break up with Steven. Suddenly, Jackie was filled with a terrible amount of worry. Jackie loved him and didn’t want to let go. Everything was good, she couldn’t ruin it. She knew Steven would be so worried and confused. He’d probably freak out and lash out at her. God, this was a nightmare for her. 

Jackie waited all day by the phone. She gave up on all her plans and sat with Donna by the phone, hoping that he would call. But he never did. Is this what their relationship meant to him? Jackie decided she wasn’t going to wait any longer for him. She had cried with Donna on friday night, only to find out he got plastered with his friends. She knew he was bound to say no, so without telling Donna, she left and went home to pack her things. It hurt to know that the one person she spent almost three years dating didn’t even try to talk to her before walking out. He just immediately gave up. He was an asshole. 

Jackie woke up the next morning, bright and early to make sure she’d avoid seeing Steven and packed the rest of her things. The only thing she left behind were the furniture and very few clothes from when she was younger. She contemplated on taking the led zeppelin tee shirt. The only thing she kept when she burned everything after he cheated on her. It had hurt too much to burn it. But now Jackie thought it was time. Her relationship with Steven was coming to a screeching halt. The only thing Jackie and Hyde’s relationship could possibly live on was love. And sometimes that wasn’t enough. So, instead Jackie folded up the shirt and placed it on the bare mattress. She looked around for something to write with and she wrote Donna a note. She told her to give the shirt back to Steven and to call her if she wanted. She then gave the hotel’s phone number she was planning on staying for a few days. Jackie placed the note on top of the shirt in hopes that Donna would find it. Everything was going to be fine, it couldn’t get any worse.

**Author's Note:**

> Soo whatcha think?  
> I really hope you guys get what was going on with the ending and stuff  
> you actually have to have read my chicago story first to understand it, but you kinda just need to read the first two chapters probably to get it  
> anyways, i hope you guys liked this! i had a lot of fun writing this!  
> let me know what you guys think in the comments! i love reading them!


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